Untitled 1944 - 1945

This untitled painting by Mark Rothko is made with watercolour, pastel, and graphite on paper. I can see how it came into being, shifting and emerging through trial, error, and intuition. I sympathize with Rothko, imagining what it might have been like to create this image, what he might have been thinking when he made it. The paint is thin, almost translucent. It looks like an open field of colour. Various gestures communicate feeling, intention, and meaning. The colours are muted, and the composition seems unstable. It's all touch and go. Thinking about Rothko reminds me of other painters too, like Forrest Bess. He was also interested in these ethereal shapes and how they relate to our inner lives. Ultimately, painting is an embodied expression which embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations and meaning over fixed or definitive readings. We are all just constantly inspiring one another’s creativity.